Team Weem's 4e Campaign :: Session Summaries (April 4, 2009)

[weem]

Sessions 10 and 11: Jan (Unknown Dates)
Chapter III: Temple Bound
Dark Fortress

Through these two sessions, the players explored multiple levels of this seemingly abandoned fortress. During these two sessions, they learned the following...

1. This fortress had spent time in (below the furface) of the ocean. Many passages were blocked with silt that contained sea shells and other evidence leading to this theory.

2. The fortress was built by some race of dwarves unknown to them and probably built for war as there were entire chambers dedicated to the storage of siege equipment

3. Mysterious crystals of various sizes played variosu roles in the fortress. They discovered crystals of "small" and "medium" sizes. Some glowed brightly, some were faint and others had no glow at all - but there were doors in the fortress that would open when certain crystals were placed in nearby slots. There was also a humanoid construct that would briefly animated when crystals were positioned into slots on its back.

It also presented some mysteries aside from questions raised based on finding above. Some of these new mysteries were...

1. In some rooms long chains hung from the ceiling with hooks on the end that were hooked into rings on the floor. These rings were always inside of an etched rectangle on the floor of 5' x 2' dimension. In some rooms these chains and hooks numbered in the 20's - the purpose of which was unknown

2. There were levers in various rooms and hallways that either could not be moved, or simply did nothing when moved


Exploration of the fortress continued down to the 3rd level...

 

[weem]

Session 12: Feb 14, 2008
Chapter III: Temple Bound
Dark Fortress (cont)

Moving closer to the 3rd floor (down) in the fortress, they discovered they were being watched by someone. Following the figure they discovered a small room at the end of a narrow passageway. In this well furnished room sat an elderly halfling who promptly welcomed them and asked them to have a seat and relax. Introducing himself as Fenwick, he was very pleased to have visitors!

The room he was in had walls marked with various small holes and thin slits running that ran the height of the room but were only a few inches wide.

Through the course of a long conversation they learned that Fenwick had lived here in the fortress for quite a while. He confirmed that, yes, the fort has the power to move between locations. He also let them know there were many other creatures throughout the fortress - some native to areas the fortress came to, and others who had actively sought out the fortress for whatever reasons they had.

Sensing they could trust him, the PC's presented their box to him, hoping he could tell them something about it. To their shock, he pulled out an identical box! He told them that this box is a key of sorts... a portal key, but he could not explain the mysterious things happening around the box during their time with it.

He slid the box back to them... or at least they thought he did at the time.

Fenwick told them that if they were looking to get to the feywild in search of the temple (that was supposed to exist where the fortress now stood) he could help them, but he would only do so if they could attain for him a large crystal from the floor below. They would have to get it from a race of snake-like creatures. This caught their attention based on the images the box had been producing in the past.

They made their way down to the 3rd floor and after a number of encounters discovered a crystal being protected by these "snake people". They brought the crystal back to Fenwick...

 

[weem]

Session 13: Feb 21, 2008
Chapter III: Temple Bound
To the Feywild and Back, Part I

Fenwick, having attained the crystal from the group, has them exit his room where he intends on meeting them shorty.

As they waited outside in a larger room, the passages leading out suddenly close, sealed shut as the walls seemed to melt closed.

"Why did you leave him with the crystal?" a voice echoed... it seemed to come from everywhere.

"Why wouldn't we", Shedian responded, "he said he could get us to the Feywild". The group looked around, still puzzled as to who or what they were having a conversation with.

"You have made a terrible choice" the voice responded.

Just then the floor below them began to descend, slowly at first but rapidly the speed increased until they were free falling. Below them they were quickly approaching a bright light and before they could blink, they were falling hard to the ground outside.

As their eyes adjusted to the light, they realized they were completely surrounded by a number of figures who held weapons to their heads... they were also missing their friend Roland [he could not make the game that night].

"Tell me now why we should not kill you", stated one of the figures.

Their eyes began to adjust and they found themselves prone, and surrounded by what could only be described as goat-men. They stood quite tall and very muscular, but they had the legs and heads of a goat - including the curled horns.

Grail quickly responded, "We mean you no harm" as they stood slowly to their feet.

After a brief conversation [skill challenge] the group was lead to a nearby camp of many goat-men. It seemed these ones belonged to a much larger force.

They were escorted to one of their superiors by the name of Torbor. He stood slightly taller than all the rest and wore the symbol of Melora. Torbor explained little, preferring to listen to what the group had to say in response to some light questioning. He then led them to a tent where they were to sleep for the night - but they were free to roam about the camp.

So, they returned to the clearing where they landed after being ejected from the fortress. They landed on the edge of this clearing along the tree lines. The clearing was very large, almost one half of a mile across and resembling an almost perfect circle. Around this cirlce stood a number of small towers and at each of these there seemed to be a squad of the goat men positioned.

They approached the nearest and began asking them questions. As it turns out, the towers served some kind of purpose that would be apparent when the fortress were to appear here. The men warned the group not to venture too far into the perimeter of the clearing... if they were inside when the fortress appeared, they would be killed instantly. Grail bravely made his way (quickly) in to inspect ruins that were scattered in the area. He marked down a number of symbols to study later before making his way back out (quickly again).

The group eventually returned to their tent to sleep. Before doing so, they had a brief conversation with Torbor and then one of the Seekers pulled Ketana aside and asked to speak to him in private... he returned 30 minutes later speaking nothing of his conversation with them.

They waited for morning to come and a highly anticipated conversation with Torbor...

(Session To be Continued)...

 

[weem]

Session 14: Feb 21, 2008
Chapter III: Temple Bound
To the Feywild and Back, Part II

The next morning, Torbor was much more forthcoming. It turns out they were now in the Feywild - something they had guessed the day before. Not only that, but these men were waiting for the fortress to appear. Apparently the locations the fortress "blinks" to are not random, but rather occur in a repeating sequence. With the help of the "Seekers" (intelligent men, followers of Ioun), he said, they had predicted the appearance of the fortress would occur at this location within the next few days. It was one of the reasons that this was the place the group was 'dropped' when they were.

They also discovered that the fortress is sentient - it has thoughts and ideas of it's own - it was the fortress who unceremoniously ejected them through a portal. The fortress was also not the only one of its kind, although it is different from the rest in that the sentient being that was contained within its walls is behaving with much more independence than their creators thought was possible. This also lead to their next discovery - the fortress (and others like it) was built by Duergar dwarves hundreds of years ago with the help of other races from below the surface of the feywild - infact, this fortress in particular was built for the exact purpose of moving into and taking the Valley of the Hutaaka.

And so it was, a number of connections were finally made. But as the group said, they were met with more questions now in the face of a few answers.

The group explained the circumstances surrounding the box they had been carrying and upon pulling it out discovered that a switch had been made on them by Fenwick. They now had his box - a seemingly ordinary box with a low level of magic on it. More than likely it too was a portal key, but it also more than likely did not contain the powerful and mysterious magic their original had... anger ensued.

After this long conversation Torbor was visited by one of his scouts with information. He told the group that the scout had witnessed their missing friend fall some distance from where they had landed - he had immediately been grabbed by a group of the reptilian people and rushed away to a small camp half a days journey away. The scout would lead them there so they could rescue him.

They quickly made their way to the camp and arrived as the sun set. It was a small outcropping of ruins on a hilltop. With surprise, they jumped into the camp killing all enemies, but all they found were corpses (goat men) and all of Rolands' belongings... but no Roland.

No tracks could be discerned from the camp so they moved back towards the clearing.

Hours later, as they drew near the clearing, they heard a large booming concussive sound. The scout moved to a nearby tree, crouching down, "Get down!" he yelled.

As they did, they were buffeted with a strong force of wind. Tree limbs, and all matter of debris flew by them as they huddled, but eventually the force subsided.

They quickly made their way to the clearing ahead where sure enough, the fortress now stood. It did not take up the entire clearing, but rather stood in the dead center, several hundred feet inside the perimeter from any side.

The scout moved to the nearest tower, "we must active the towers and protect them!" and the group followed. At the tower they were attacked by the snake people and they could see that these creatures were attacking the other towers as well - they were trying to stop the towers from being activated for some reason.

They cleared and activated this tower, but could see another one nearby was being overrun. The group (minus the cleric) ran to help as he remained behind to watch the one they had just cleared. Within range of his bow, he repeatably fired on the enemies form his vantage point. During all of this, debris was still falling from the sky... various foliage and stone from the ruins... but one particularly large piece caught everyone's attention as it descended towards the tower this new fight had been for.

Everyone moved as quickly as possible to avoid the falling stone as it tore into the top, destroying the mechanism needed to activate it [random roll here on where it would fall - bad luck for them].

They had survived and done what they could and now everyone was gathering within the perimeter, preparing to march into the fortress behind Torbor. He barked out orders in a language they could not comprehend and before they knew it, they were all charging headlong into one of the entrances - 3 PC's following approximately 50-70 goat men, as well as Torbor and his 2 "Seekers".

The entire group made their way in to the center chamber (after a few run-ins with the fortress defenses which claimed the life of a number of goat men). This chamber was the control room of the fortress - it was where the fortress would be activated. Based on what they had seen so far, Torbor guessed the fortress was not fully activated (did not have all 8 crystals needed).

This chamber was a few hundred feet across and even more in height. In the center stood a column around which stairs spiraled up 10 feet in width. They went all the way up where they ended on a platform. This platform had 4 bridges extending in each direction from the center out towards the walls of the chambers. At the end of each was a slot for a crystal to be placed and a crank that had to be turned 4 times (standard action each turn) in order to activate the crystal. By the time they reached the top, they had 7 rounds to complete the tasks. Crystals were handed out and they split up - the PC's splitting into two to tackle two bridges and NPC's on the rest.

However, they were all attacked by snake people as they tried to activate the crystals - so while they tried to defend themselves, they had to also turn the cranks.

As if that were not enough, the fortress threw in one of it's last lines of defense, dropping in guardians from the ceiling attached to chains... they were large and while they were crude and slow, it took a lot to chop them down.

After a long hard fight, they eventually won with Torbor calling to the fortress to call of its guards (after he activated it) and while the fortress delayed as best it could, it eventually gave in and everyone was finally able to rest after much excitement.

 

[weem]

Session 15: Mar 7, 2009
Chapter IV: Familiar Ground
From The Depths

Having ended combat with the fortress, Torbor ordered the fortress deactivated - everyone pulled the 8 crystals from their positions. His hope was that without any source of power, the fortress could not port away from the feywild giving him time to clear out the fortress and prepare it for occupation.

The Seekers were bringing someone in with intimate knowledge of these kinds of fortresses but he would not he there for two days.

(During this time, Fenwick arrived with Roland in tow. Roland had apparently been dropped form the fortress to a different location where he was kidnapped by the snake people. After being lead from camp to camp over the next 2 days, he was rushed by his captors onto the fort after it appeared, moving through the chaos and fighting outside.

Once inside he was held captive in a room with two humans, though he was unable to speak to them. After an unknown amount of time (day or two) Fenwisk suddenly showed up... many of the snake men fled the room - those that stayed regretted it immediately as they were attacked suddenly by a high pitch ringing in their ears. Their ears bled and they fell to the floor as Fenwick released the humans and Roland. The humans left down a side passageway, and Roland followed Fenwick all the way to the rest of the group).

The rest of the group wanted to immediately attack Fenwick - they aggressively approached him demanding he give their box back. He did so, and let them keep his box when they offered it back. Fenwick then warned them that he should keep the box - that they would regret keeping it sooner than they could imagine - but they chose to keep it.

Fenwick then warned the Seekers (Kasen particularly - the leader of their group) that bringing "Redger" here would be a terrible mistake. The Seekers scoffed at him, and the PC's were in agreement - Fenwick could not be trusted. He went on his way, satisfied that he had tried.

That day, Ketana studied the box with the aid of the Seekers as well as helped them in the study of the fortress looking for more information that could help aid them in predicting its next location to which it would port.

The next day, Redger arrived (a day early) and to everyone's surprise, he was a Duergar dwarf! The Seekers lead him up to the control platform. They wanted to be sure the fort could not go anywhere and that it was safe to keep in the feywild for further exploration/occupation.

Redger ordered the fortress activated.

Once activated, it spoke to him...

"I know you"

"Yes you do", Redger responded.

He then began speaking to the fort in his native language, which no one seemed to understand. As he spoke to the fort, one of Torbors men came up to the platform having ran the whole way...

"They are coming", he panted
"Who? The snake men?", Torbor asked
"No", the man replied, "HIS kind!" he said, pointing a finger at Redger

At that, Redger drew his knife and lunged for Kasen saying "This is the end" before doing so.

A fight ensued from which Redger was killed. It seemed he knew he was to sacrifice his life. However, during the fight some of the players tried to remove crystals, but they would not budge.

Kasen, at the start of combat, knelt down and began casting a ritual.

After the fight ended, he finished the ritual - Water Breathing.

At that moment, ocean water began pouring in from side passages slowly filling its way up towards them 150 feet above.

"That place we hoped the fort would not go... we have arrived"

The fortress had ported into the ocean.

The players, as well as the Seekers, Torbor and one of his men, managed to swim their way up to the surface from where they could see the lights of a town (Rugalov) on a nearby shore.

They eventually arrived to find that the town was under attack by Troglodytes and Snake people. After a few encounters, they were able to kill off the creatures and discover that they had come "from the ocean" as some of the citizens of the town had witnessed... and so it was assumed they indeed came from the fortress as well.

The fighting had gone through to the morning, so as the sun rose, they were being hailed as heroes but inside they felt guilt for having been a part of the reason the monsters were here in the first place.

That day they were treated like kings... free food and rooms. They slept until mid afternoon only to find an even larger crowd had gathered around the Inn in which they stayed.

The mayor (of Rugalov) spoke with them that afternoon... he asked them questions about where they were from - how did they come to find the town in danger, etc. The group did a poor job of lying and it was apparent to the mayor details were being kept from him. But despite that he thanked them and rewarded them with horses to help them on their way - though they were more than welcome to stay.

After the mayor left, the group spoke with the Seekers and it was decided that the Seekers would return home to Ylarum to try and determine the forts next location while the PC's would head to Kelvin. Records indicated that the royal family of Karameikos had regular contact with the Hutaaka. So, the royal library in Kelvin may have information they need about the Hutaaka - particularly, where they might go to find the portal into the valley.

 

[weem]

Session 16: Mar 21, 2009
Chapter IV: Familiar Ground
We're Not Heroes

The PC's (after some travel time) arrive in Kelvin followed by 5 men from Rugalov who had various tasks to do there, including notifying officials of the events that had occurred earlier.

Grail checked in with his Church. Things were busy as his Bishop from Specularum had moved up to Kelvin and was setting a number of things in motion. He put Grail to work helping offload supplies from the docks to a warehouse for future use as aid for the poor.

Ketana went to check in with his master only to discover that his school was gone. Not only were they gone, they apparently left "8-9 months ago". For the PC's, only 2 months had passed since they were last here, and so they discover that time did indeed pass differently for them in the Feywild than it did back on their homeland.

With the amount of time that had passed (they discovered that almost a year has passed) they learned the outcome of a few things they had played a part in long ago, including that Rifflian was now doing quite well (in part, thanks to them) and that the constable was now about to obtain a job in Kelvin. They discovered this when they ran into him in Kelvin - and when he learned they were looking to access the Royal Library, he told them he would try and pull some strings to make it happen.

The next day they were met by a sheriff and scribe - the men required information from the PC's about their possible visit to the Royal Library (why do you need access, what are you looking for, for how long do you need access, where did you come from, etc). The sheriff said he would return in a day or two with more information if the access was approved. If they didn't hear from him after two days, they could consider it denied.

The PC's went out for the day, but when they returned, one of the men from Rugalov who traveled with them had gathered people to the tavern with the epic tale of how the PC's had saved the town. The excitement only grew when it was further discovered that the PC's were also involved in helping rid Verge of kobolds so long ago.

The PC's soon became surrounded and overwhelmed as they crowd continued to grow exponentially. At the height of it, local guards intervened and separated the PC's from the crowd, moving them into the tavern. With the tavern protected, the sheriff showed up who had questioned them before - it was not safe for them to stay here (obviously).

They were loaded into a coach and whisked away into the Noble district within the walls of the royal castle. Here they were taken to the home of John and Sara Marilinev - friends of the sheriff, and also the family put in charge of looking after the Royal Library.

They had dinner and stayed the night with the (very wealthy) nobles and were told they would be granted access.

The sheriff then brought the PC's into the castle, a trip during which he told them of the very specific rules they were to adhere to in the library.

The Royal Library was simply the personal library of the royal family. In fact, they were told there was a chance that while they were in the library, a member of the royal family may enter (there were a few rules related to how they were to handle themselves in this situation if it were to occur).

In the library, they had access to everything and had someone working there help them find books with information they needed. Some of the things they learned were...

1/ The royal family did indeed maintain a strong relationship with the Hutaaka, but this was kept secret. Many suspected, but the proof only existed here in the library where logs were maintained of official meetings, etc.

2/ The king and the rulers of the Hutaaka would meet officially once per year. While their dignitaries might meet more regularly, the rulers of each side met in an official capacity once per year. When the Hutaakan leaders came to Kelvin, it was kept secret, and when the king would visit them, they public was told a lie about where he was going.

3/ About 200 years ago, the king (at the time) sent hundreds of his elite royal soldiers into the mountains north of Threshold. The official reason given to the people was the extermination roaming hordes of goblins - but the real reason for sending them was to get them into the valley of Hutaaka to help defend the Hutaakan people from some threat.


There were other things learned as well, but as they were discussing these items with the librarian, he was interrupted when someone entered the library - it was Prince Stephen Karameikos II (18 years old).

The Prince had with him his personal guard and the PC's stood still waiting to see what happened. The Prince looked over the shoulder of the librarian and made his way towards them.

He asked them why they were researching the Hutaaka. The PC's told him that they felt the Hutaaka were in danger. They told him of the fort, the Duergar and almost everything else.

The Prince told them, "We need to warn them right away!" and had his guard go get his 'night bag'. Once the guard returned with his bag, he showed them to a secret passage out of the library... It closed/sealed behind them... this was normal to the Prince who had obviously used this exit many times. The problem was that they security he simply used to walk by before (stone soldiers that animated and allowed him to pass), now went into attack mode when faced with people 'not of royal blood'. This lead to a number of encounters as they fought their way through chambers.

Eventually, they escaped into the royal district. The Prince got everyone horses and they fled Kelvin, all the while the PC's coming to the realization that they were now probably marked for death here.

After a night's stay in High Forge, they continued north, bypassing Threshold and entering the mountains to the North West where they eventually made camp.

Tomorrow, they would enter the Valley of the Hutaaka... the PC's can hardly believe they are about to see it!

 

[weem]

Session 17: Apr 4, 2009
Chapter IV: The Valley of Hutaaka
Ruins, Rivers and Reptiles

Prince Stephen Karameikos II lead the party deeper into the mountains, arriving around noon to a small set of ruins.

The party wanted to use the box to locate the portal, and so they did - it allowed them to see it, and would allow them to enter only Stephen warned them against doing so. His coin could also allow them to pass through the portal, but had the added benefit of notifying "defenses" on the other side that it was him arriving as opposed to 'something else'.

Once in, the party saw they stood on the eastern most end of a large valley split by a river. They also noticed that on this side they stood among many ruins and as they took it all in, a small set of ruins to the west began to rise. It turned out to be a 'ruin' golem by the name of Ploto who immediately welcome Stephen back and eventually walked with them down the hill to a nearby village. During the walk, the party noticed they were being followed on either side by very small humanoids (about 2-3' in height) carrying spears and stealthily walking amongst the tall grass watching their every move. Ploto told them not to mind the 'little ones' and eventually the creatures stopped following.

At the village they were warmly welcomed by the chief of the village Hemin before spending the next few hours relaxing and taking in the views. Stephen had immediately left the village using a mount owned by the chief (a 'large lizard-like creature') in order to pass along their warning to the 'Emporer' at the palace. The group was told they could not go any further into the valley before staying a few days here among the people, putting in time to help them with various tasks while also learning about the valley.

As the sun set they met for dinner and had a number of questions answered about the valley, and the Hutaakan people themselves. The village was made up mostly of Hutaakans, but also was home to some humans and elves, and even one dragonborn.

The chief set up each member of the group with a person in the village who would not only have a lot to share with them, but could also learn a lot from them.

Shedian (the dragonborn fighter) was housed with the only dragonborn there. Over the next few days Ketana learned about the origins of his people and in fact all people - it was the belief of the Hutaakan's that all life spawned from this valley. Ketana was exited to learn about his heritage and especially that the palace in this valley was home to a wealth of information about the peoples of the valley, including the origin history of his people.

Grail (the elven cleric) was housed with the chief himself. They spent the next few days discussing religion with the chief primarily listening, and asking questions.

Ketana (the eladrin wizard) was housed with a very intelligent Hutaakan who had many questions about the Known World. He also solicited Ketana's help in the plans for a new bridge they were constructing as well as advice on the use of magic, with which he knew a little of.

Reed (the halfling rogue) as housed with a Hutaakan who did not seem pleased to have his company. Over those next few days, he shared information about respecting the valley, its people, nature and many other things, all while assigning him to menial tasks here and there.

On their third day in the Valley, a horn was blown in the village gathering everyone to the chief. He told them that the reptilian creatures had been spotted again and that they needed to head out and investigate.

With information gained from scouts, they were able to prepare an ambush which was pulled off successfully (despite the loss of three Hutaakan lives). The reptilian creatures were indeed the snake people. Were they here because the fort was about to arrive, or had they come in via another portal - this was one of the primary questions left un-resolved.

Back in the village, the chief 'received a message' that Stephen needed them at the palace. The cheif decided that while they were not ready to move about the valley, he should still ensure that they get to the palace right away. With that said, the boarded a small boat and quickly made their way there arriving the following day (the boat seemed to move very fast - un-naturally fast).

At the palace, they were eventually met by, and led into the emperors court by Stephen. Next to the emperor stood a much aged Fenwick. The Emperor , as it turned out, wanted to hear this warning directly from those who had been witness to the events (the party) and so the confirmed it all.

The Emperor had more he wished to discuss, but it would have to wait until the next morning as he had much to do.

The party was escorted to their (lavish) chambers where Fenwick told them they all had to leave immediately. He could not say where, but he began etching a door onto the wall of their room as they tried to get more information out of him.

Eventually this etched doorway became an actual door into a stone room. They entered and after a brief bit of time there realized... they were back in the fortress. Ketana had been told that he would meet Fenwick again by the Seekers - they warned him that he should not take his eyes off of him and to stay close, so he did just that - however, as the party passed a room where combat was taking place, the others stopped to look...

...what they saw was themselves fighting Redger and the constructs in the control tower of the fortress from a few weeks earlier! (session 15 above).

Continuing past that, Fenwick lead them to a room with a large, uncut crystal surrounded in a cylindrical force field. Fenwick said they had to help him, in order to make sure they themselves survived the fight they had just passed!

From the floor rose two very ominous, very imposing constructs, whose obvious purpose was to destroy them... "This is where I need your help" Fenwick stated as they prepared to fight...